98 
DEPAETMENT OF ANTIQUITIES. 
[upper 
helmets were found at Olympia in Greece, having been dedicated to 
Jupiter ; the first by Hiero I., tyrant of Syracuse, from the spoils taken 
from the Etruscans at the naval battle, off Cumae, B.C. 472 ; the other 
by the people of Argos, from the spoils of Corinth. 
BRITISH AND MEDIEVAL ROOM. 
This room contains two collections :- — the British, consisting 
of Antiquities found in Great Britain and Ireland, extending 
from the earliest periods to the Norman Conquest, and the 
Medieval, comprising all remains of the Middle Ages, both 
English and Foreign. 
BRITISH COLLECTION. 
This Collection is arranged, as far as possible, in chronolo- 
gical order, as follows : — 
Cases 1—42. British Antiquities, anterior to the Romans. 
Cases 43—75. Roman Ajitiquities found in Britain. 
Cases 76-97. Anglo-Saxon Antiquities. 
BRITISH ANTIQUITIES. 
The remains of the inhabitants of the British islands, pre- 
vious to the Roman invasion, embrace the Stone, Bronze, and 
a portion of the Iron Period of Northern Antiquaries. They 
have, for convenience, been classed according to their materials, 
and in the order corresponding to that of the supposed intro- 
duction of such m-aterials into this country. 
Gases 1-4. Implements known as stone celts. They appear by 
analogous examples, still in use among nations in a savage state, to 
have been mounted in split "vvooden handles, and bound round with 
leathern thongs, so as to form axes. 
Cases 5-9. Flint knives and arrow-heads, found chiefly in Ireland. 
Cases 10-12. Various stone implements, viz.: — Stone hammers, 
or axe-heads, pierced to receive a wooden shaft; they have been 
occasionally found with bronze weapons, and appear to be of a later 
date than the stone celts. Oval pebbles, which may have been sling- 
stones. Small sharpening stones or hones, pierced at one end for 
suspension. Circular pierced disks, which have been used as beads, or 
as whorls for the spindle. On the lower shelf are models of six stone 
cromlechs, or sepulchres. 
Cases 13-25. Implements and weapons made of bronze, a mixed 
metai, compounded of about nine-tenths of copper to one-tenth of tin. 
The sites of discovery are marked on the objects themselves. 
Cases 13-15. Illustrations of early British Metallurgy. Lower 
Shelf. Stone muUers or hammers, which have been employed in 
